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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060533">Ghostly Whispers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/katherine1753/pseuds/katherine1753'>katherine1753</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Forensics, Ghosts, M/M, Tags May Change</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:34:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/katherine1753/pseuds/katherine1753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Crowley and Aziraphale work in a forensics lab, experts in solving cold cases. But the truth behind their expertise? Aziraphale can see ghosts. <br/>A new case arrives, with a ghost with no memory of their life or death, and they may have finally met their match.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>GO-Events Good Omens Mystery AU Event Works, Good Omens Human AUs</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ghostly Whispers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Crowley was bored. He’d been bored for a few weeks, but definitely more so in the past few hours that Aziraphale had been out of the lab. He rolled around in his swivel chair and added another couple pencils to the precarious stack he’d been working on. The sheer height of the pencils was impressive, if he had any say in the matter, but they were threatening to topple onto the small stack of papers that he’d meant to file. They’d been in his inbox for so long that they may as well fuse into the desktop. He hated paperwork more than anything. And he supposed it was technically </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>that he was bored; things weren’t really great when a forensics lab was busy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their firm only did cold cases, things deemed unsolvable by the FBI, but it was still not </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice </span>
  </em>
  <span>to wish for more work. Crowley sighed again and spun in his chair, staring at the ceiling. Maybe he could launch the pencils up and see how many he could get stuck in the tiles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anathema’s quick boot-steps in the hall knocked him out of his bored spinning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crowley, I’ve got one for you,” Anathema announced, knocking on the door to the nearly empty lab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finally!” He spun dramatically toward the door and made grabby hands at the file folder in her hands as she approached his workspace. “I’ve been so bored, Anathema, it’s been weeks!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a terrible thing to say about cold cases,” she scolded, holding the file folder out of his reach. But the look on her face told him she was a bit excited to have new work too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He jumped up and snatched it. “Better than current murder,” he said, already flipping eagerly into the file, eyes flying over the pages inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response. Anyway, the FBI couldn’t get anywhere with this one so they sent it to me. Newt’ll have the bones in shortly once he’s done with the cataloguing. He’s doing it by hand since the scanner went down again so please try to be patient with him, ok?” Anathema prodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley nodded, waving a hand at her vaguely as he engrossed himself in the police notes. The scanner was always broken when Newt tried to use it. Crowley was used to the extra wait time by now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Aziraphale?” Anathema frowned, glancing around the room. He didn’t need to look at her to know she was frowning, it was evident in her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lunch,” Crowley mumbled. This file was distracting, thrown together almost haphazardly. He could tell it hadn’t been dug through quite as many times as some of their other cases. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He and I had lunch two hours ago…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tea, then,” Crowley shrugged. “The man’s basically a hobbit, what can I say? Second breakfast and all that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anathema rolled her eyes fondly. “Tell him I need the facial reconstruction by tomorrow, alright?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Crowley waved her off again. The file had so many missing pieces and gaps; but those were his favorite kind. They were so much more satisfying to solve. And the lack of evidence probably explained the lack of effort put into this case so far. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s…Crowley, this one’s going to be tough. The skull is shattered and missing some pieces. Along with that and the huge lack of evidence...I mean it’s been a cold case for a while now, for a good reason,” Anathema had that nervous tone she got when new cases began to set her on edge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anathema, we’ve never failed you before, have we?” Crowley finally looked up from the folder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, no,” she admitted. “But-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So don’t worry about it til you need to worry about it. We’ve got this,” he reassured her, confidence seeming to improve her mood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. As soon as possible tomorrow, ok?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley nodded and she left him alone with the file, boots clicking all the way down the hall to her office. He wasn’t nearly as nervous, and for a good reason. Everyone always said that Aziraphale’s facial reconstructions were scarily accurate, down to the minute little details that would often not come across in a photograph. They were eerily lifelike. Everyone assumed that he’d gone to prestigious art schools, had training and practice for decades, had a savant level gift. And he did, he had all of those things. But the real shock was his speed. No matter the level of decomposition, Aziraphale would manage a perfect face match within mere hours. But the reason behind his accuracy was not what everyone assumed, though the art schools and practice and training helped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aziraphale could see ghosts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley hadn’t believed him at first, and he was the only person that Aziraphale had told about his gift so far. Aziraphale had seen Crowley’s dad once and passed along a message, then spent the rest of the night comforting him in a bar. They became close friends after that, nearly inseparable for decades. Crowley had already been working for Anathema at the time at her cold case investigation firm, doing a majority of the forensics work, and he’d insisted that Aziraphale apply to join their team. And ever since he’d become Crowley’s lab partner, they’d never gotten anything wrong. The ghosts would help, setting their investigations on the right track, working through the evidence with them to find the relevant parts quickly and efficiently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was even better, was the fact that Crowley was able to hear and see the ghosts as well when Aziraphale took his hand. It helped him ask more relevant forensic questions, things that Anathema would need to present to the FBI. Crowley’s brain liked to remind him that </span>
  <em>
    <span>another </span>
  </em>
  <span>reason this made things even better, was that Aziraphale would hold his hand for hours at a time.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Aziraphale came back from his tea, a cup of steaming black coffee for Crowley in hand, Crowley handed him the file. Aziraphale didn’t quite share his enthusiasm; he wasn’t trained in forensics, and he didn’t get as much of a thrill about solving the cases. He was more focused on helping the ghosts move on. But nevertheless, he looked eager to begin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Newt wheeled the bones in an hour or so later, setting them up carefully on Crowley’s table. Anathema hadn’t been exaggerating; their condition was rough. Crowley crowded around the table, only getting in the way a little bit, as he lowered his glasses to look at the bones more closely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re bringing over the clothing and belongings in a bit, plus the evidence box. But I have to warn you, it’s really not much. Could probably all fit in a ziploc bag?” Newt glanced at them nervously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Poor thing,” Aziraphale said sympathetically to the bones as Crowley just sighed, ready to get started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Newt finished his bone arranging and stepped back to take his cart away, wanting to get out of Crowley’s lab. He preferred doing the paperwork. Crowley felt Aziraphale freeze beside him as he got a closer look at the bones. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crowley that’s...that’s not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>child,</span>
  </em>
  <span> is it?” He sounded horrified. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley felt the same horror creeping into his heart as he reached for the biggest piece of jaw. The skeleton was rather small. But as he examined the teeth he breathed a sigh of relief. “No. Not a child. Just short. Still young though, by the looks of it. Early twenties I’d guess just at first glance? I’ll know better once we reassemble some.” And they’d know for sure when Aziraphale summoned their ghost, but they left that unspoken until they were alone in the building. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley worked on reassembling some of the fragments while Aziraphale read through the file again as they waited for the rest of the team to finish their work and go home. Aziraphale didn’t want anyone else to know that he talked to ghosts. Crowley adjusted one of the pieces of the skull and frowned; there was a major injury there, but he wasn’t sure yet if it was the cause of death. The person was little. Indeterminable gender. A few filled cavities, but otherwise decent teeth. Some pieces of bone were missing but that was probably due to old crime scene methods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally Anathema came to bid her goodnights and locked them in the lab. She didn’t question their methods as long as they got things done. When she had left, Aziraphale gave him a nod and they stood at the head of the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aziraphale took a deep breath and took Crowley’s hand. Crowley’s breath mimicked it, but definitely for different reasons. His hands were shaking, but it wasn’t from fear of the ghosts. Aziraphale laid a hand on the top of the skull, and Crowley nearly lost his grip on Aziraphale’s hand with the force with which Aziraphale twitched. Calling forth the ghosts was always much harder than communicating with ones that were already roaming around. Aziraphale had told him it was rather unpleasant, usually filled with flashes of things leading up to their deaths, but he refused to go into detail about the things he saw unless they were relevant to the case, wanting to let the spirits keep some of their privacy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment, Aziraphale’s eyes flew open and stared straight ahead, unfocused. He came back to himself slowly, eyes returning to the expressive blue that Crowley could get lost in. And within seconds, there was a small ghost in the room with them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A small somewhat transparent person with a mop of messy black hair, a young face creased with stress, pale eyes, and a confused and frightened expression. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where am I?” their voice shook. “Who are you? What is this place? Are those...are those </span>
  <em>
    <span>bones</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Aziraphale,” he said gently, trying to calm the ghost. “This is Crowley. What do you last remember?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley often let him lead with the ghosts, Aziraphale had a much gentler nature. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” The ghost frowned. “I don’t...I’m not sure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley frowned. Usually the ghosts remembered something about the leadup to their murder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s your name, dear?” Aziraphale asked pleasantly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hesitated for a while. Much longer than most. “Beelz,” they said finally. “I remember that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley frowned, the opposite of the slightly hopeful expression crossing the ghost’s face. Something about this was wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beelz, do you know what happened to you?” he asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“N-no? What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my dear,” Aziraphale sighed sadly. “You’re a ghost.” It was always better to just get it out there and over with. He used to beat around the bush about it, trying to get the ghost to figure it out themselves, but Crowley had managed to convince him to get to the point faster after they had a very confused and angry professor’s spirit argue with them for nearly two hours. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m…” Beelz looked around and down at themself, seeming to notice the transparency for the first time. Their pale eyes settled back on the bones. “Is that me?” they whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…” Crowley answered, feeling a little bad. They were taking it better than most, but he supposed not remembering your death probably helped with that a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you...you don’t remember how you died? Where you were? What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t remember anything...just my name,” Beelz said, looking anxious again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley turned to meet Aziraphale’s frowning gaze. This was unusual. They’d never had a case like this before. For the first time, he was beginning to worry that they’d found a case that would finally beat them. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks for reading!<br/>I'm on tumblr at katherine1753 as well :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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